Hate sin!

Reflection

The phrase to hate sin sits alongside a very different instruction, to love sinners, and holding both together without collapsing one into the other is one of the harder disciplines of Christian life. The Psalms speak of hating what is evil while clinging to what is good (Psalm 97:10, Romans 12:9), a call that requires real moral clarity rather than vague tolerance dressed up as compassion. Sin is taken seriously in scripture not because God delights in condemnation but because it damages the people it touches. The difficulty comes in applying this to oneself rather than only to others. It is much easier to hate sin in the abstract, or in someone else's life, than to confront it honestly in one's own. David's prayer to be searched and known, so that any offensive way could be revealed (Psalm 139:23-24), models the kind of self-examination this actually requires. Hating sin, done rightly, begins close to home and is paired always with the hope of grace rather than despair.

Questions to sit with

• Is it easier for you to notice sin in others than in yourself?
• What sin in your own life do you find hardest to be honest about?
• How do you hold together taking sin seriously and extending grace to yourself and others?

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